Your Feedback on Talk Radio: Lopsided Against Obamacare (Apr 6, 2010)

Many said that the right-wing talk show hosts like Rush, Roger, Mark, Sean, Glenn, Steve, and Mike were biased against the health care package as they talked mostly about the negative sides of Obamacare, with almost none of the positive effects of passing health care reform.

Says Rob via e-mail, "It's like KOGO and KFMB-AM put on right wing talkers who slam the poor people constantly without any passion whatsover. That's why I don't listen to these stations, in fact, I boycott them altogether and tell my friends to do the same."

Says J.J. via e-mail, "KFMB-TV wants us to watch their TV station and listen to Jack-FM, yet they put on a--hole conservatives that want the poor people to drop dead."

Says Gary via e-mail, "Radio is doing a disservice to the general public by not broadcasting the positive effects of health care reform and is not serving the public interest. How can we get the licenses of KOGO and KFMB revoked?"

Says name withheld by request via e-mail, "The right wingers don't want to talk about how hard it is for the working poor with preexisting health condidions to gain affordable health care. My son, age 19, has many preexisting conditions, and the lowest price that a health care provider would give us was $612...a freaking month! Not per year. Health care reform will help my son be on the same level field as the healthy young people his age and pay the same rates. This prejudice against unfortunate people is ending under Obamacare."

Says Adam via e-mail, "The AM talkers KOGO and KFMB have are not doing us any good by telling the poor to go bankrupt and those who have health conditions they have to pay more money a month. This is not fair to them or us. If they can't afford to pay for health insurance, then have health problems and have to go to the hospital, who picks up the tab if they can't do so? We do with higher hospital bills and higher premiums."

Says another name withheld by e-mail, "Steve Yuhas told the poor people to file for bankruptcy if they end up in the hospital and can't afford to pay the bills. Oh, how mighty you are, radio show host. What if you're unemployed and can't afford health care, and you have to declare bankruptcy yourself because of health care bills? I told KOGO to fire you and drop the hatemongers Rush and Roger for their rants against the poor and their sob stories about how sad it is for the rich to spread the wealth to the poor. The poor aren't being paid enough, that's why the economy is in ruins, thanks to the tightwad rich employers."

I didn't get a single e-mail in support for any of the right wing talk show hosts.

My View on Radio Covering Health Care (Apr 6, 2010)

There are a lot of people including myself who can't afford to pay $300 and higher a month for health care coverage, and I'm 49 for only three more weeks. I would benefit if through some miracle, the right wing talk show's criticisms would be proven wrong and poor people like me would be able to afford health care.

What we really need are vouchers for working people to afford private health care provider packages of their own choosing. All working people would have a wage deduction, just like with worker's comp or whatever, to help pay for vouchers for poor people to use, with progressively older people getting a higher amounts of the price of vouchers to pay for more expensive premiums.

We could have done it without wasting tens of millions of dollars to hire 17,000 tax auditors just to see if you have a valid health care plan that includes stuff you don't need. Do I need prenatal care? Do I care for a sex change operation? Why should I get a plan to cover those and pay more money for them? It's a freaking waste of money.

Obama has the right spirit in helping the poor, but his plan is wrong altogether. The right wing talkers provide no solution on the air for the working poor to help them get health care coverage that's subsidized by government programs (Roger did once many months ago, too infrequent.)

So in my humble opinion, Obama, and the right wing talkers get a failing grade. The Republicans aren't doing enough to overcome the Democratic domination in the House and Senate. The right wingers continue to treat the poor people as a liability.

We need real solutions to the affordability of health care for the poor. We need to make sure every citizen pays according to a sliding income scale out of their paychecks, with the poor getting a net credit (not to exceed) the cost of their choice of health care provider and plan (excess money in the voucher would go back to the health care voucher pool instead of the poor person.)

Radio also needs to be more responsible in serving the public interest in hiring knowledgeable people whose goal is to help the public as a whole instead of just the people who make over $50,000 a year in income and dis the poor with heartless talkers who are basically bigots and snobs.